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Trump Threatens to Keep Money From Flood- and Virus-Hit Michigan After Apparently Misreading News Reports

The president fumed that millions of absentee ballots were sent out in the state, but he later deleted his tweet after state officials called him out.

People in Michigan are facing historic floods on top of the coronavirus pandemic—but, rather than offering some help, President Trump has threatened to make things even harder. Trump has threatened to withhold unspecified funding from the state because, he said, it mailed out millions of absentee ballots for the upcoming primaries and presidential election. But that’s not the case—state officials said Tuesday that all registered voters will receive applications for absentee ballots to give them the choice to take part in elections without the risk of infection by the deadly virus. Trump deleted his tweet and replaced it with a similar one later in the day that said: “Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

Trump’s initial tweet drew a quick response and correction from Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state: “Hi! I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.”